Behind the radar: Dinging speeders in the city

The first stop was St. John Community School. Tiessen pulled into the school zone in an unmarked car and parked. He said there are increased risks of children getting hurt because of a speeder at this time because they are out of class.

“We get complaints from citizens, also from school staff as well if they’re concerned with the amount of speeders that they see when they’re outside waiting with the children,” he said.

Before every shift the radar and laser gun, the two models to detect vehicle speeds, are calibrated using tuning forks. He said this ensures the models read properly.

“One verifies the other,” he said about having to forms of patrol.

The radar is parked at the both the front and back of the car, so officers can see how quickly vehicles are moving in both direction.

“Last week in the John Diefenbaker school zone, which is also adjoined to the Turgeon School … there’s one ticket I charged with 65 km/hour in a school zone, which is more than double the posted speed limit, so that ticket was $340 and basically the excuse was not paying attention and mind was on other things,” he said.

“People just need to pay more attention to the road and the signs and be aware because the children in and around the areas is the main concern.”

In less than 20 minutes of arriving, a car was dinged at doing 51 km/h in the 30 km zone and Tiessen went into action.

Turning on his lights and following the vehicle until it pulled over, Tiessen said most people are quick to stop once they see the red and blue.

Tiessen ran the licence plate number in his computer to ensure there is no licence suspension or other details he needs to be aware of before approaching the driver.

“This particular individual said he thought the school zones were 40 kilometres an [hour],” he said, adding even if that were true, he’d still be speeding.
The penalty for that was a ticket worth $232. Each ticket amount is based on how quickly the driver was speeding.

“I’ve heard lots of different excuses but routinely it’s ‘I didn’t realize it’s that posted speed’ or a ‘school zone,’” he said, adding some just admit they weren’t paying attention.

This particular driver had a previous infraction for driving while using a cellphone. Tiessen said if he’s caught for the same offence, his vehicle could be seized for seven days as part of the new driving laws.

After the ticket was issued the driver went on his way. Only a few minutes later, Tiessen pegged another vehicle at 48 km/hr in the same zone. This carried a fine of $226.

“Surprisingly the majority of times people actually apologize and thank you, even when they get a ticket,” he said, laughing that he sometimes sees elderly women in the area cheering them on from outside of a home. “It’s far and few between when there’s someone who is irate.”

After issuing the ticket, Tiessen headed over to the school zone in the John Diefenbaker School and Turgeon area. He said when incidents happen like that over the driver going 86 km/hr, it’s concerning.

“It definitely demands enforcement and a ticket because that is uncalled for and unacceptable,” he said. “That closing very quickly on a highway speed in a school zone.”

He said he enjoys doing this because it helps “keep the streets safer.”

The ticket Tiessen gave over the lunch hour was to a person driving 47 km/hr.

“Most people would say that maybe ‘oh I was only going 47’ but that’s still 17 kilometres over,” he said.

Although the day wasn’t extremely busy, Tiessen said that’s a good thing. At most, he said more than 15 tickets could get issued for anything from speeding, to talking on a cellphone, to unregistered vehicles.

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84

by Sarah Stone

Behind the radar: Dinging speeders in the city

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